Automatic bottle wash-up line

ABSTRACT

A method and means for handling of laboratory animal drinking bottles ( 17 ) provided with nipples ( 17 ) in an automatic bottle wash-up line, wherein the nipples ( 16 ) of all the bottles ( 17 ), arranged in a basket, are removed from the bottles with the aid of compressed air in a nipple removal means ( 2 ) and are washed and dried together with the drinking bottles and are subsequently put back onto filled bottles in a nipple reassembly means ( 4 ), which operates with similar tools ( 6 ) as the nipple removal means ( 2 ).

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an automatic bottle wash-up line andmore specifically a method and a means for handling drinking bottleshaving nipples intended for laboratory animals in an automatic bottlewash-up line.

BACKGROUND

Drinking bottles for laboratory animals are provided with nipples. Thespout of the nipple can have different lengths. In order to obtain arational handling the drinking bottles are today placed in baskets, thebaskets are placed on carriages and the carriages are transported to abottle wash-up line. The baskets are placed on a conveyor, the nipplesare dismounted from the bottles and are placed in a separate basketadapted to the nipples, which is then also placed on the conveyor.Bottles and nipples are washed and dried in a washing machine, whereuponthe bottles are filled with water and the nipples are again mounted onthe bottles.

The above process is a rather circumstantial procedure and the capacityof the plant is limited because bottles and nipples are washed inseparate baskets and the baskets intended for the nipples have to bereturned to the bottle wash-up filling station.

THE INVENTION

In view of the above, one object of the invention is to provide a methodof washing-up bottles and nipples together in an efficient way and toeliminate the need of separate baskets for the nipples.

This object is achieved according to the invention with the featuresaccording to claim 1.

Another object of the invention is to provide a means which makes itpossible to perform the method according to the invention.

This object is achieved according to the invention with the featuresaccording to the independent claim 2. Developments and preferredembodiments of the means according to the invention are made the objectof the subsequent sub claims.

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be described more in detail with reference to oneembodiment of the invention shown in the drawings, on which:

FIG. 1 schematically shows a bottle wash-up line for drinking bottlesfor laboratory animals according to the invention, and

FIGS. 2-5 schematically show a tool designed according to the presentinvention, being part of a means for nipple removal and nipplereassembly, respectively, in different working positions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

An automatic bottle wash-up line for performing of the method accordingto the present invention is shown schematically in FIG. 1. This bottlewash-up line is primarily intended for washing of drinking bottles forlaboratory animals. The bottles can have different sizes. The bottlesare transported in bottle baskets within the plant. A suitable basketcontent would be 18 bottles (3×6). This number can vary, but all basketsin one plant should contain the same number of bottles, irrespective ofany variations in size of the bottles.

According to the invention, a back side of the baskets is designed toaccommodate nipples removed from the bottles and to retain said nipplesduring the washing procedure.

The bottle baskets are transported on a conveyor 1 through the plant.When a basket is placed on the conveyor, it first encounters a nippleremoval means 2 comprising a number of tools corresponding to the numberof bottles in a basket. This tool will be described more in detail withreference to the subsequent FIGS. 2-5.

In the nipple removal means 2 the nipples are removed from the bottlesand are lifted up from the basket, whereupon the basket is turned upsidedown and the bottles are emptied of any remaining content. Subsequentlythe nipples are placed on the backside of the basket, now facingupwards, in brackets for compartments designed for this purpose.

Thereafter the basket advances into a washing machine 3, which will notbe described in detail in this context, as it is not a part of thepresent invention. The bottles are washed and dried and are subsequentlyfed out to a nipple reassembly means 4.

The nipple reassembly means 4 comprises tools similar to the tools ofthe nipple removal means. Each tool is controlled to lift one of thewashed and dried nipples up from the backside of the basket, whereuponthe basket is turned back to the original position, the bottles arefilled with water, and finally the nipples being held by the tools, arereassembled onto the bottles. Thereafter the baskets are transported outof the plant on a conveyor 5 containing filled-up bottles with mountednipples.

The tools comprised in the nipple removal and nipple reassembly means 2,3 are working with compressed air as will be described below. One of thetools is shown in different positions in FIGS. 2-5.

A predetermined number of tools 6 are arranged in a bracket not shown indetail, which is movable in a vertical direction. The tool has a hollowshaft 7 with a connection 8 for compressed air at an upper end and amouthpiece 9 at the opposite, free end. The shaft 7 sits in anassociated operating cylinder 10, which, in a controlled fashion, movesthe shaft in the axial directions between an upper and a lower endposition. Further, abutments 11, 12 are arranged, extending in parallelwith the shaft and having abutment surfaces 13, 14 at the level of thelower end of the mouthpiece, when the shaft is in the lower endposition.

The mouthpiece is designed in such a way that when a spout 15 of anipple 16 is inserted into the mouthpiece, the nipple with spout remainshanging from the mouthpiece and is lifted up together with the tool,when the tool bracket is lifted up. This can be achieved e.g. with anO-ring arranged inside the mouthpiece 9, which O-ring has a sealing aswell as a securing function.

The shaft 7 is connected to a source of compressed air. When a nipple isto be removed from the drinking bottle 17 the mouthpiece is passed overthe spout, the nipple is released through a blow of compressed airthrough the shaft down into the drinking bottle, whereupon the toolbracket is lifted up with the nipples hanging in the mouthpieces. Thisposition is shown in FIG. 3.

When the nipples have been removed from the bottles, see FIG. 3, thebottle basket is turned upside down, and then the tools are lowered downtowards the back side of the basket. Subsequently, the shaft is movedwith the aid of the cylinder away from the bottle basket, whereby thespout of the nipple is drawn out of the mouthpiece when the nipple isstopped by the abutment surfaces of the abutments, as is illustrated inFIG. 4. The abutments used to illustrate the invention are only oneembodiment. They may be integrated in a plate, which is common for alltools.

In the nipple reassembly means the nipples are picked up by the tools ina way corresponding to what is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, but with thedifference that the nipples then are picked up from the back side of thebottle basket, where they have been washed and dried. After that thebottle basket has been turned the right way up and the drinking bottleshave been filled up with drinking water, the tool bracket with the toolsis lowered, the nipples 16 are pressed onto the bottles 17 with the aidof the abutments, which is indicated in FIG. 5, whereupon themouthpieces 9 are removed from the spouts of the nipples, in the sameway as is shown in FIG. 4 and disclosed in connection therewith, withthe difference that the nipples are now sitting on the drinking bottles.

The bottle baskets can be designed in any suitable way with theprovision that the bottles shall be detained therein when the basketsare turned upside down, and that there is room for the nipples on thebacksides of the baskets.

The technical solutions relating the bottle wash-up line as well asmeans for turning and transporting of the baskets in the bottle wash-upline are not part of the present invention, and therefore detaileddescriptions of these have been omitted.

The exact configuration of the separate tools and the abutments can bevaried without departing from the scope of the invention, and theembodiment disclosed in the detailed specification and shown in thedrawings is only intended to illustrate the invention.

1. A method for handling of laboratory animal drinking bottles (17)provided with nipples (16) in an automatic bottle wash-up line, in whichbottles with nipples arranged in a basket adapted for this purpose areplaced on a conveyor for transport of said basket through a bottlewash-up line, characterized in that the nipples (16) on all the bottles(17) in a basket are removed from the bottles in one operation bysealingly attaching a mouthpiece (9) to each nipple (16), whereupon thenipples are removed from the respective bottle by a blow of compressedair through said mouthpiece, and are lifted up from the bottles, thebasket is turned upside down with the bottles (17) retained in thebasket, the nipples (16) are placed on the back side of the basket, thebasket in inserted into a washing machine (3) wherein bottles andnipples are washed and dried, the nipples (16) are lifted up from thebasket, the basket is turned back into the original position with thebottles (17) having their bottle mouth upwards, the bottles (17) arefilled with water, and then the nipples (16) are attached on the bottles(17).
 2. A means for handling of laboratory animal drinking bottles (17)provided with nipples (16) in an automatic bottle wash-up line,characterized in that it comprises a nipple removal means (2) and anipple reassembly means (4), the nipple removal means (2) having anumber of tools (6) corresponding to the number of drinking bottles (17)in a basket, the tools (6) being arranged in such a way that each toolcan be brought into engagement with a nipple (16) on one of the bottlesin the basket, a means for turning the basket upside down, a backside ofthe basket being arranged to contain the nipples (16) during washing anddrying, and means for introducing the basket into a washing machine (3),and wherein the nipple reassembly means (4) has tools (6) correspondingto the tools (6) of the nipple removal means (2) for engagement with andlifting up of the nipples (16) from the back side of the basket, andattaching of the nipples to the bottles (17), a means for turning thebasket and a means for filling the bottles with a liquid beforeattachment of the nipples.
 3. The means according to claim 2,characterized in that each tool (6) comprises a mouthpiece (9) beingdesigned to be brought into sealing engagement with a spout (15) of anipple (16).
 4. The means according to claim 3, characterized in thatthe mouthpiece (9) is connected to a source of compressed air.
 5. Themeans according to claim 3, characterized in that the tool (6) comprisesa hollow spindle (7) which is movable in axial directions between anupper and a lower end position with the aid of an operating cylinder, aconnection (8) for a source of compressed air being arranged at one endof the spindle, and the mouthpiece (9) being arranged at the other endthereof.
 6. The means according to claim 3, characterized in that a sealis arranged in the mouthpiece (9), such as an 0-ring, which surrounds aspout (15) inserted into the mouthpiece (9), and thereby is arranged toapply a sufficient pressure against the spout to retain the spout (15)and the accompanying nipple (16), when the nipple has been released froma drinking bottle (17).
 7. The means according to claim 5, characterizedin that the tool (6) comprises abutments (11, 12) med abutment surfaces(13, 14) situated substantially at the level of a lower edge of themouthpiece (9), when said spindle (7) is in its lower end position,whereby the mouthpiece (9) can be released from a nipple (16) by axialmovement of the spindle (7) from its lower end position towards itsupper end position.